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ALL THE WAYS TO BE SMART

Name: ALL THE WAYS TO BE SMART
Author: Davina Bell
ISBN: 978-1-947534-96-4

by Davina Bell ; illustrated by Allison Colpoys ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 3, 2019

Affirming.

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“Smart is not just being best / at spelling bees, a tricky test. / Or knowing all the answers ever… / Other things are just as clever.”

Simple, flowing words coupled with fluorescent illustrations (created from ink, charcoal, and pencil, then digitally assembled) give young readers a book brimming with examples of how they are smart all day, every day. Smart at making—like gluing wings on Halloween bats, concocting slime, and “building boats from boxes.” Smart at understanding people—like offering sympathy, “saying hi and bye / to people when they feel all shy,” and “being sorry when you’re naughty.” Smart at “growing, throwing, / bubble blowing,” “crazy dances! Horsey prances! / Feeling scared but taking chances,” and even “sitting still and quiet for ages.” Realistic illustrations show children of varying racial presentations joining sentient animals and benign, hairy monsters to confidently explore their world, real and imagined. There is no narrative throughline as such, but double-page spreads are thematically unified. Children soar on dragons, lecture dinosaurs, play with pirates, show off in a circus, and explore space while always receiving the message that “every hour of every day, / we’re smart in our own special way. / And nobody will ever do… / the very same smart things as you.”

Affirming. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-947534-96-4

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Scribe

Review Posted Online: June 24, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
ALL OF THE FACTORS OF WHY I LOVE TRACTORS
by Davina Bell ; illustrated by Jenny Løvlie

- BOOK REVIEW
UNDER THE LOVE UMBRELLA
by Davina Bell ; illustrated by Allison Colpoys

- BOOK REVIEW
BABY DAY
by Jane Godwin & Davina Bell ; illustrated by Freya Blackwood

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ON THE FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Laura Hughes ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 21, 2016

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...

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Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.

The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: June 21, 2016

ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
ON THE FIRST DAY OF FIRST GRADE
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Sarah Jennings

- BOOK REVIEW
FIVE LITTLE BUNNIES
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Dan Yaccarino

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IMANI'S MOON

by JaNay Brown-Wood ; illustrated by Hazel Mitchell ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 14, 2014

While the blend of folklore, fantasy and realism is certainly far-fetched, Imani, with her winning personality, is a child...

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Imani endures the insults heaped upon her by the other village children, but she never gives up her dreams.

The Masai girl is tiny compared to the other children, but she is full of imagination and perseverance. Luckily, she has a mother who believes in her and tells her stories that will fuel that imagination. Mama tells her about the moon goddess, Olapa, who wins over the sun god. She tells Imani about Anansi, the trickster spider who vanquishes a larger snake. (Troublingly, the fact that Anansi is a West African figure, not of the Masai, goes unaddressed in both text and author’s note.) Inspired, the tiny girl tries to find new ways to achieve her dream: to touch the moon. One day, after crashing to the ground yet again when her leafy wings fail, she is ready to forget her hopes. That night, she witnesses the adumu, the special warriors’ jumping dance. Imani wakes the next morning, determined to jump to the moon. After jumping all day, she reaches the moon, meets Olapa and receives a special present from the goddess, a small moon rock. Now she becomes the storyteller when she relates her adventure to Mama. The watercolor-and-graphite illustrations have been enhanced digitally, and the night scenes of storytelling and fantasy with their glowing stars and moons have a more powerful impact than the daytime scenes, with their blander colors.

While the blend of folklore, fantasy and realism is certainly far-fetched, Imani, with her winning personality, is a child to be admired. (Picture book. 5-8)